How Does The Service Work?

Your consulting package can include whatever guidance you need depending on where you are in the law school application process.

You'll start with a 15-minute introductory call, during which you and your consultant will determine how to structure your sessions together. The first 15 minutes of your first call are on us. This allows you to get to know your consultant before you begin, to make sure they are the best match for you.

From there‚ you and your consultant will act as a team‚ strategizing on how to build the most compelling application package for you.

Law School Admissions Component

Approximate Time

Personal statement topic brainstorm

30-60 minutes

1st draft of personal statement

60-90 minutes

2nd/3rd review of personal statement

45-75 minutes

4th review and on

15-30 minutes

Interview prep

15-60 minutes

Resume prep

15-60 minutes

Financial aid guidance

30-60 minutes

Letters of recommendation guidance

10-30 minutes

Already a student? Ask about special Kaplan student rates saving you as much as 17% off the regular rates.

Basic is best for applicants:

Who have assembled most of 1-2 applications themselves and are looking for a final, professional review

looking to get preliminary guidance on the admissions process, before they undergo the process on their own.

Advantage—our most popular package—is best for applicants:

who are applying to about 3-4 schools.

who have already narrowed down their list of target schools.

who have a working draft of at least one or more of their personal statements/essays.

Comprehensive and Premium are best for applicants:

who are applying to a longer list of target schools (5+).

who need help from the very beginning stages – from mapping out a list of target schools.

who don't yet have a draft of one essay.

who have a significant weakness or several complicating factors that need to be addressed.

Choose the right package for you and customize your time to meet your specific needs. You can always add additional hours at any time for $249 / hour, or buy a second package and take advantage of the built in hourly savings.

Q: Is Law School Admissions Consulting right for me?

Most applicants are going to be qualified for some range of schools. However, most people are on "the bubble" somewhere, meaning the next level of schools is just beyond their reach. Applicants applying to competitive programs, international applicants, weaker writers, or those who have complicating factors, weaker LSAT scores or GPAs that need to be addressed can all benefit from the guidance of a seasonsed admissions consultant.

Q: How does the service work?

One business day after you enroll in Law School Admissions Consulting, you will receive a welcome email, including a brief survey. The survey inquires about your goals, target schools, and more to help us better understand your needs. We then use this information to match you with the right consultant. Or, let us know who are your top three consultant choices and we'll be happy to match you with one of your preferred consultants.

The service is delivered remotely with your consultant advising you via phone and email. The remote delivery allows Kaplan to provide the most convenient scheduling and to match you with exactly the right consultant regardless of geography.

Q: What are the consultants' credentials?

Kaplan's law school admissions consultants are so effective because of their deep experience in the field. Most have served on admissions committees or as advisors—many at the top law schools—and they bring really cogent insight into the admissions decision-making process. Most importantly, they understand that this process is about you presenting the best you possible. Our consultants know how essential it is to preserve and amplify your voice. They bring their expertise to bear to help you succeed.

Q: Does my consultant do the work for me?

No. Kaplan consultants work with you to enhance your original work. They'll help you brainstorm, polish your work, and help you position yourself for the greatest effect. But don't forget, medical school is a very personal choice—it's important that the schools understand who you are as a person. And Kaplan law school admissions consultants can help you do that.

Q: How should I best use the time with my consultant?

Our consultants have "billable" hours for the services they provide. They have guidelines as to how much time to spend on any individual aspect of the service and will continuously update you on the amount of time you have remaining. If you don't use all of your purchased time, you can receive a refund for all whole unused hours at the rate of $100/hr. In addition, if you wish to add time, you can purchase additional hours at the rate of $249/hr. There are several different package options available that drop the per hour price down as little as $145/hr.* You may not purchase individual hours before purchasing one of our standard packages.

Get Expert Advice from Law School Admissions Professionals

Kaplan offers the most experienced team of law school admissions consultants available. Most have served on admissions committees—many at the top law schools—and they bring really cogent insight into the admissions decision-making process. In addition‚ most have their J.D.’s‚ so they are especially attuned to your needs and understand your school and career goals. They’ll work with you to build the best application package possible—one that positions you well for acceptance. They’ll guide and advise you—and most importantly be a big part of your cheering section.

Barb

Consulting with Kaplan since: 2004Education: MA from Michigan State UniversityBackground: Former Assistant Director of Pre-Law and Graduate School Advising at Brandeis University

With over 12 years experience of law school advising, Barb has assisted individuals from around the world with their applications to law school in both the United States and Canada. She has had clients accepted to all of the top ten law schools but is just as proud to say that she has helped hundreds of clients figure out the best law school for them. Barb was the Assistant Director for Pre-Law and Graduate School Advising at Brandeis University for four years where in addition to advising, she created and presented to hundreds of students on the application process and organized a law school and graduate school fair. She was trained and certified by NAPLA (The Northeast Association of Pre-Law Advisors). Prior to that, Barb worked in residence life at both Boston College and Florida State University. She earned both her undergraduate and graduate degrees from Michigan State University - master's degree is in Higher Education Administration and bachelor's in Political Theory and Constitutional Democracy with a minor in Psychology. When not working with future law students, Barb enjoys spending time with her family at the beach.

Bill, Consultant of the Year Recipient

Consulting with Kaplan since: 2000Education: Master's from Hunter College (CUNY)Background: Former Pre-Law Advisor and Associate Director of Career Services at Princeton

For the past 12 years, Bill has been one of Kaplan's most active and requested consultants and has helped hundreds of Kaplan clients successfully thread their way through the application maze. As Bill likes to say, the process is not so much difficult as it is detailed, so he makes sure all clients get those details right. He is particularly good at reducing the "challenging" (dreaded?) law school personal statement into entirely manageable bite-sized pieces. Bill says he enjoys working with every one of his clients including applicants targeting the ultra-competitive national schools to others looking at strong regional law schools.

While pre-law advisor at Princeton University, for more than 16 years, Bill advised and counseled hundreds of students and alumni in their applications to literally ALL of the most competitive law schools in the United States and Canada. At Princeton Bill developed and hosted numerous panels and workshops on legal careers, the law school application process, writing winning personal statements, graduate school decision-making and the job marketplace. In addition he has written nationally published articles on law schools and legal careers, careers for the liberal arts graduate, job-hunting and interview skill techniques, salary negotiation and aviation operations. Bill was personally invited to visit many law schools throughout the United States and work directly with their deans and senior admissions staff.

His prior 30 years of professional experience has included: Recruiting Manager for a large Wall Street bank; Associate Career Services Director at Columbia University Graduate School of Business; Deputy Commander, Admissions Liaison Office for the United States Air Force Academy (Lt.Col); Florida Institute of Technology School of Aeronautics Associate Admissions Director; Director of Engineering/Science Placement Director; Commercial pilot Shadow Traffic™.

Brenda

Consulting with Kaplan since: 1999Education: JD from NYU, BA in English from YaleBackground: Former JD Career Advisor, University of Wisconsin Law School

Brenda has been with Kaplan's Law School Admissions Consulting Program since its inception and has helped clients gain acceptance to nearly every law school in the United States and Canada. She obtained her J.D. from NYU and practiced public interest law in New York City for ten years. She then moved to Madison, Wisconsin where she founded a writing and editing business, The Essay Expert LLC. Brenda worked as a J.D. Career Advisor at the University of Wisconsin Law School for one year before devoting herself fully to The Essay Expert and Kaplan.

Brenda's training in life coaching often leads her to come up with questions and ideas that give her students a new perspective on their lives—both where they're coming from and where they're going. If you work with Brenda, be prepared to see a strength or a theme in your life that you did not know was there. Also be prepared for a comment on your letter of acceptance mentioning something in your essay or resume that impressed the admissions committee.

Helaine, 2008 Law Consultant of the Year

Consulting with Kaplan since: 2005Education: JD from Boston University School of LawBackground: Deputy General Counsel, New York City Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings

Helaine is currently employed as the Deputy General Counsel for the New York City Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH). OATH oversees four New York City Administrative Tribunals--the OATH Tribunal, the Environmental Control Board (ECB), the Health Tribunal and the Taxi and Limousine Tribunal. Much of Helaine's time is spent training Administrative Law Judges and Hearing Officers. She also acts as Legal Director to the ECB, a thirteen member body that employs hearing officers who hear and decide approximately 250,000 notices of violation per year. Prior to becoming Deputy General Counsel, Helaine was employed as a managing attorney and as a hearing officer for ECB's Brooklyn office where she supervised and reviewed the decisions of a staff of forty attorneys. She also heard and decided cases that had a substantial impact on the quality of life in New York.

While it is true that the contribution Helaine makes to the people of New York City is valuable, the work that she does for Kaplan is far more rewarding on a personal level. Helaine's experience includes many years of Admissions Consulting, LSAT teaching, essay review and Kaplan teacher training. Assisting people who are completely enthusiastic about learning law provides a refreshing and infectious perspective and allows her to continually renew her commitment to the discipline.

In addition to teaching for New York City and Kaplan, Helaine has held adjunct faculty positions at New York Law School and the City University of New York.

Joy

Consulting with Kaplan since: 2003Education: Master of Arts from Spertus CollegeBackground: Former Director of Admissions, Chicago-Kent

Prior to entering the nonprofit industry as a fundraiser, Joy was Director of Admissions at Chicago-Kent College of Law. Her responsibilities included serving on the Admissions Committee, reviewing applications and recommending candidates for acceptance, deferral, or denial; recruiting prospective students at law forums and undergraduate pre-law days throughout the country; providing counseling to law school applicants regarding school policies and procedures, the application process, and other related concerns; and evaluating and selecting scholarship recipients. Joy's in-depth insider's perspective serves her Kaplan clients well; she knows what admissions officers are looking for and assists her clients to position themselves in the best light possible.

Joy's favorite part of the application process is the personal statement. She believes that it is through the personal statement that the Admissions Committee learns who you are, and what makes you special and different from the other thousands of applicants. You are unique, and you need to write in a manner that best fits your style. Many of us have not taken the time to explore what makes us who we are. Joy understands that this can be frustrating at times, but it's well worth the effort. She encourages you to take advantage of this opportunity to sell yourself. The bottom line is that Joy wants your essay to come from a place of strength. It is what makes for a powerful personal statement.

Jesse, 2007 National Consultant of the Year

Jesse R. Borges is Senior Graduate Admissions Consultant and Trainer with Kaplan. He begins his twenty-second year in the field of educational / professional advancement and 16th with Kaplan having personally advised more than 1,500 applicants of widely varying racial, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds, from every geographic region of the U.S. and the world. In the process, he's helped applicants secure admission to nearly every ABA-approved school in North America, including the top ten law schools, as well as most schools in Canada. Jesse not only has extensive experience with JD, Transfer and LLM applicants, but also joint degree applicants. Indeed, his primary field of expertise covers not just admission to law school, but also business school, public policy, international affairs, health, social science, health and humanities programs, as well as a range of additional professional schools.

Given his breadth and depth of experience, Jesse has often been called upon to handle Kaplan's most challenging and high profile admissions consulting cases; he was named Graduate Admissions Consultant of the Year, and was the first Kaplan employee (and one of only two) ever to win the company's National Consultant of the Year Award. On the administrative side, as Senior Admissions Consultant and Trainer for Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions since shortly after the program was created in 1997, Jesse has screened and trained nearly every consultant in Kaplan's Graduate Admissions Consulting Program, facilitated most of the team's professional development sessions, and conducted more than 100 seminars on JD, MBA, and Graduate School Admissions.

Jesse is also a National Science Foundation Fellowship winner who has a Masters degree and Ph.D. from Princeton University. As a graduate school applicant, he was himself accepted with full university fellowship offers to every leading graduate program to which he applied, including Harvard, Yale, Columbia, MIT, and the University of Michigan. He also has a decade of teaching experience, having served as a faculty member at institutions such as Haverford College and Barnard College of Columbia University, and he has presented his research at a variety of universities, including Yale, Wesleyan, the University of Pennsylvania, and Harvard.

Loren

Consulting with Kaplan since: 2004Education: JD from University of KansasBackground: Assistant General Counsel, Department of Mental Health

During Loren's nineteen years with Kaplan, the last nine of which have focused exclusively on law school admissions consulting, he has helped thousands of students achieve their dream of going to law school. His clients have been admitted to schools as diverse as Harvard, Columbia, Duke, Georgetown, University of Kansas, University of Missouri, and University of Missouri - Kansas City. A licensed attorney since 1993, Loren studied law at the University of Kansas, where he was a Rice Scholar (a distinction which provided him a full scholarship).

Although he is well-versed in all aspects of the law school application process, his strengths include assisting clients in writing an exceptional personal statement and offering support and guidance as his clients navigate the waters of the law school application process. While working for Kaplan, Loren has worked with a wide-variety of clients – from traditional students graduating from Ivy League schools near the top of their class to returning students who graduated from their local college 20 years ago and, as they readily admit, did not take school very seriously. He worked with each of these clients to help them develop a unique theme for their application packet – a theme which clearly presents the assets the client will bring to any law school they attend.

In 2005, Loren was awarded with Kaplan's first ever Law School Consultant of the Year award.

Ricky

Consulting with Kaplan since: 2002Education: JD from the University of Minnesota Law SchoolBackground: Assistant Attorney General, Illinois and Texas

Richard (Ricky) begins his second decade helping students earn acceptance to a national array of law schools on behalf of Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions. As a University of Minnesota Law School graduate and an attorney in multiple jurisdictions (including service as Assistant Attorney General for the States of Texas and Illinois, Assistant Legislative Counsel for the State of Oregon, and Legal Counsel for the Aurora Colorado Public Schools), he worked and continues to enjoy relationships with an impressive list of law school admissions deans and committee members. He is a regularly invited guest to join law school deans to lend his expertise on national admissions panels. He most recently moderated a law school admissions consortium at the Sam Houston State University attended by the leading Texas law schools.

As a 2011 Kaplan LSAT Teacher of the Year, he also brings a unique perspective of the LSAT's role in an effective law school application. He is especially proud of success stories from international and English as second language applicants for whom the LSAT presented special challenges.

While an attorney by trade, Ricky is an educator at heart. He earned a Masters in Education from Northwestern University and taught Education Law at the college level. Ricky cites his education experience as an essential asset "teaching" Kaplan law school applicants how to best embark on a rewarding career as a successful law school applicant, law student, and attorney.

Michelle, 2006 and 2008 Consultant of the Year

Consulting with Kaplan since: 1997Education: BSL and JD from Glendale University College of Law

Michelle is a law school graduate having earned BSL and JD degrees from Glendale University College of Law. She worked in personal injury plaintiff/defense firms in LA and Beverly Hills before moving to Hawaii where she is a published writer and former successful real estate agent. She is especially helpful with the essay, Resume, diversity statement portions of the application. Her calm and nurturing manner make the application process easier. She is currently enhancing her admissions consulting skills through training to become a motivational coach. She specializes in working with clients who come from unique backgrounds and circumstances, and many of those she works with receive multiple acceptances, including to their dream schools.

Tani

Applying to law school can be exciting, frustrating and more than a little scary. Am I applying to the right schools? Is my personal statement strong? Is my LSAT score high enough? As a Kaplan Admissions Consultant and teacher (I have taught LSAT, GMAT, GRE, ACT, SAT and more) over the last nine years, Tani has successfully guided hundreds of students through Kaplan's LSAT course, helping them build that all-important aspect of their quest for law school admissions. On the business school side, she has helped several hundred students gain admission to the top business schools in the world. She can help you answer the hundreds of questions you are dealing with during this stressful time.

Tani received her MBA from Harvard in Marketing and has held increasingly demanding positions in Product Management, Advertising and Consulting for over thirty years including 15 years in Fortune 500 food companies. In the end, the application process builds on three key marketing concepts—who is your target audience, what are their wants and needs and how do you position yourself to meet those needs. The intellectual process behind these questions is the same whether the product is dog food, emergency lighting, burritos, or you.

In tackling your application, Tani will first help you identify the programs you are applying to and understand what drives your selection. Then, she will help you discover what will make you appealing to the admissions committee. Tani's job is to broaden your thinking, to help you recognize the things that make you unique and interesting. It is important to remember that admissions committees see literally thousands of applications, most of which present perfectly acceptable LSAT scores and GPAs. Tani will help you find the factors that will make your application sparkle, that will make you stand out from the other qualified applicants.

Hear from our Clients

Bill, I just wanted to tell you that I got into Columbia Law School as part of their early decision program. Thank you so much for your help with my personal statement. It made a huge difference!
Priya George

Ilene, Thanks for all your time, help, and guidance. I honestly do not think that UNC would have become a reality without all your thoughtful consideration to my work!
Katherine A.

I just opened a long, blue envelop from New York University Law School welcoming me to the class of 2012.

I say without hesitation that my LSAT score was higher, my personal statement was tighter, and my law school applications were stronger for having gone through your programs and working alongside Kaplan's incredible staff. With Kaplan's help, I was able to fulfill my potential and earn the honor of attending one the very best law schools in the nation.

And finally, I would like to thank Brenda Bernstein, my admissions consultant. Brenda was never short of good ideas and helpful suggestions. Not only did she provide invaluable guidance on how to wrestle a strong, but somewhat out of control, Personal Statement into submission, she also gave me sage advice on how to cast the weaker parts of my application in the best light. Working with Brenda was a very rewarding experience, and there's no doubt that my final application package was kicked up a notch thanks to our collaboration.

I recommend Kaplan's test prep and admission consulting services without reservation to anyone who wants to put his or her best foot forward when applying to law school. It's not often in this world that someone offers a product that is worth every penny that it costs.
Michael Zentz

Ilene, I just wanted to take a moment to thank you again for the help you gave me earlier in the admissions process. I have been accepted to almost all the schools I applied to and I am in the process of making a decision between Richmond and George Mason. Your help with my application package certainly helped my chances of gaining admissions to these schools and helped with my ability to obtain some scholarship money — Drexel offered me $25,000 a year. Again, I just wanted to say thank you.
M.M.

Brenda, I just wanted to send out a quick email to inform you I have been accepted to both New York Law School and Wayne State University Law School for the fall term starting in 2009. I am planning on attending New York Law School in the fall, and was awarded the distinction of being a Faculty Scholar and a $5,000 Merit Scholarship. Without your help, encouragement, and writing ability, I would not have gone through the process of applying to law school as easily and successfully as I did. Thank you again (and again).
Sarah B.

Kathy, Last week I received my first response letter from a law school, and I was admitted to the New York University School of Law!! I want to thank you once again for all of the work you did with me; your insight was beyond invaluable, and I firmly believe that I would not be as strong an applicant as I am without your help.
Michael I.

Barb, So far I've been accepted to 10 schools and have received numerous scholarships, including one for $15,000/year from University of Arizona, $27,000/year from Loyola, $30,000/year from Western New England, $35,000/year from Hofstra, and two FULL scholarships from Temple and Cardozo (Yeshiva)! I can without a doubt say that Kaplan is the reason I've been so successful, and whenever I talk to people about Kaplan, I always tell them that I'm proof that it works.
Kristen N.

Ricky has the years of experience with law admissions teams to be able to accurately help me edit the content and message of my applications to fit the theme of my overall application and my personality. Additionally, I felt like he understood what I was going through personally better than anyone close to me and was truly able to give me constructive input about my concerns, weaknesses, and strengths as an applicant.
A.E.

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Kaplan Test Prep and ACCET

Kaplan Test Prep is accredited by the Accrediting Council for Continuing Education and Training or ACCET, a US Department of Education nationally recognized agency. ACCET promotes quality-oriented education and training through establishment of standards for its members and an accreditation process focused on integrity. Kaplan's programs are accredited by ACCET ensuring reliable and quality training at all locations. For more information about ACCET, visit www.accet.org.